Examples of Latin and Germanic words with common Indo-European roots

[Maciamo]

Despite belonging to the same Indo-European family of languages, it is often hard to see similarities between basic words in Romance and Germanic languages. Here are a few exception of words that were already close in classical ancient times and have changed little since then in modern languages.


- axe : Latin ascia, Old English æces, Proto-Germanic akusjo
- beak : Latin beccus, Old English becca, Gaulish Celtic beccus
- car, cart, chariot : Latin carrum/carrus, Old English cræt, Old Norse kartr, Gaulish Celtic karros
- cat : Latin cattus, Old English catt, Proto-Germanic kattuz
- day : Latin dies, Old English dæg, Proto-Germanic dagaz
- eye : Latin oculus, Old English ege, Proto-Germanic augon
- father : Latin pater, Old English fæder, Proto-Germanic fader
- fish : Latin pisces, Old English fisc, Proto-Germanic fiskaz
- horn : Latin cornu, Old English horn, Proto-Germanic khurnaz
- long : Latin longus, Old English lang, Proto-Germanic langgaz
- middle : Latin medius, Old English middel, Proto-Germanic medjaz
- month : Latin mensis, Old English monað,, Proto-Germanic mænoth
- mouse : Latin mus, Old English mus, Proto-Germanic mus
- new : Latin novus/neo, Old English neowe/niowe,, Proto-Germanic newjaz
- nose : Latin nasus, Old English nosu, Proto-Germanic nusus
- spit (verb/noun) : Latin sputare/sputum, Old English spittan/spitu, Proto-Germanic spittan/spituz
- star : Latin stella, Old English steorra, Proto-Germanic sterron
- swine : Latin sus, Old English swin, Proto-Germanic swinan
- time : Latin tempus, Old English tima, Proto-Germanic timon
- waste : Latin vastus, Old English westen, Frankish wostjan
- way : Latin via, Old English weg, Proto-Germanic wegaz
- wind : Latin ventus, Old English wind, Proto-Germanic wendas


Not to be confused with early Germanic borrowing from Latin, such as :

- belt : Latin balteus, Old English belt
- cherry : Latin ceresia, Old English ciris
- inch : Latin uncia, Old English ynce
- pear : Latin pira, Old English pere/peru
- scuttle : Latin scutella, Old English scutel
- street : Latin strata, Old English stret
- tower : Latin turris, Old English torr

Or conversely, Romance languages borrowing from Germanic idioms :

- white (blanc in French, bianco in Italian, blanco in Spanish) from Proto-Germanic blangkaz via Frankish blank
- fresh (frais in French, fresco in Italian and Spanish) from Proto-Germanic friskaz
- boat (bateau in French, also battello in Italian) from Proto-Germanic bait via Old English/Norse bat.

[Regulus]

It is amazing both that the common roots are so discernable and that the words themselves changed so quickly. The pace of the changes seems to have sped up since the early middle ages.